Be Brave, Mia
by DragonHazel
Summary: "Why do you think that I am going to be a member of Erudite, mother? I do not belong here! You can see that, it is so obvious! Why do you not accept it?" Mia is obsessed with Harry Potter, and like Harry trouble finds her. Follow Mia on her journey through Dauntless initiation. (There is no war like in the original work...but there is one brewing)
1. Prologue

"Honestly, Mia!" My mother sighed as she threw my report card back onto the kitchen counter. "You spend hours in your room studying every night! Why on Earth are you coming home with so many low grades? You are Erudite. Math and Science should be your best classes, but your grades show that they are the worst!" She yelled the last part in my face, her spit hitting my forehead.

"Mother, I am just not good," she cut me off.

"Exactly." She said. You could cut the tension with a knife. Or a fist. Her hand cut the air between us and landed on my cheek. I winced at the blow, but otherwise made no movement. Even at the age of eleven I was as stubborn as a mule. Back then I was actually better at math and science, now I am even worse. It has been exactly five years since this first incident. History is repeating itself. I am jolted from my thoughts as I feel a stinging on my face.

"How do you expect to get through your initiation? You _need_ these skills to survive in Erudite Mia!" She yells in my face. Her brown eyes filled with anger and disappointment. I take a deep breath to try to stop myself from replying, but she then moves from the slap to a punch. I hold my now throbbing arm.

"Why do you think that I am going to be a member of Erudite, mother? I do not belong here! You can see that, it is so obvious! Why do you not accept it?" I asked her, my voice monotonous. She paces in front of me. A hand running through her hair. She is pissed. I swallow hard and put on my normal facade. My mother is seething and I am just staring blankly at her. She and I are the exact opposite. She has blonde hair, I have brown. She has brown eyes, I have blue. She is confident. I am not. She is highly intelligent in math and science. I am not. She is abusive. I am not.

"No daughter of mine will be a defect, do you understand me, Mia Grace Johnson?" She says, still seething. Her face scrunched up, she looks like a dog I saw in a book once.

"I do not see how I can be a defect if I was never an Erudite." I reply looking her in the eyes. She snaps and I feel the blow to my stomach. She then walks around me, standing behind me she sighs. "Go to your room, Mia. No dinner for you." I almost let my sarcastic snort out but I hold it in. Last thing I need is a broken nose.

"Yes, mother." I reply I begin to walk out of the room when she calls my name again.

"Mia." I turn around halfway, she is staring out the window but she then turns around to look at me.

"Yes, mother?" I ask with a raised brow.

"I suggest you choose Erudite as your future faction." I nod. "Or else you will be an orphan. I will not call you my daughter if you join another faction. God forbid you join Abnegation." She told me, looking straight in my eyes. I nod again. and begin to walk out. I did not make it out the door until I heard a whisper.

"If you become a stiff, I will have to kill myself." I shook my head and ran up the steps to my room. I quickly shut off the light in my room and hide under my covers. While my mother might think I'm sleeping if she comes in to check on me, I am actually reading my father's old journal.

He was Dauntless born, but he fell for my mother in school, and she was far too stubborn to switch factions, so my father followed her to Erudite. They got married a couple of years after their initiation, everything seemed fine, that was, until my mother was pregnant. My father was there the entire pregnancy, and for the first few years of my life. I remember small snippets of him, but not all that I wish to know. It was when I was four that he suddenly passed away. My parents had been fighting a lot; one of the few snippets I remember of my father is when he held me after they had a fight, telling me to be brave. After that fight both of my parents delved into their work. They were both scientists, working on medicine for people of all factions. They needed someone to test a drug that could cure a disease that was threatening to have a major break out, so they used my father as the test subject. He was the only one brave enough to risk it. It killed him. He had two weeks to live, and I remember how strong he was, even up to his last breath. He told me to be brave. I hope I have been. It feels like I have not, but hopefully I will. Hopefully my test will say Dauntless, or Abnegation. I could never see myself in Candor, Amity, or Erudite. I lie too much, I have too much of a temper, and I do not have a high IQ score. However, I am selfless, and I am brave. But I am also selfish and I am also a coward.

Can one really fit perfectly into a faction? That is a question not even the smartest Erudite can answer. I hope I can fit in somewhere. I hope I can be a bit of every faction too. But most of all, I hope that I can have a life. I do not want to spend my life looking for some type of happiness. I do not want to waste time trying to make everyone else happy. I do not want to spend my life arguing. I just want to be me. That is all I want in life. I want it to be a journey, not a never ending dull plot. I hope the test works. I hope I can eventually be free.


	2. Chapter 1

**I will rarely do Author's Notes, but this is kind of needed to help understand this story. **_Alrighty, decided to kind of let you know on some of the details I've changed. I normally try to not change a ton, but some things did change whilst planning this. Tris is an initiate the year after Tobias and Eric transfer. (Their first year training initiates) Christina and Will are initiates at the same time as Tris. The rest of the initiates (ie Al, Peter, Uriah, Marlene) are initiates the year after Tris. Tris and Tobias are together, and Tris helps Lauren with the Dauntless born, while Eric helps Tobias with the transfers. Eric and Tobias will be semi-friends throughout this story. There will be no war, but it is still dangerous to be Divergent. There is no alliance between factions, they are all neutral with each other. This story takes place the year after Tris goes through initiation. _

My alarm scared me out of my sleep. I sighed slowly after realizing that it was just a dream. Well, a nightmare, but it was still just a dream. I slowly left my bed, and began to get ready for the day. Use the bathroom, shower, brush teeth, then do hair. Once I walked into my plain, tidy room, I looked at the clock. Shit. I couldn't be late. I grabbed my long sleeved Great Gatsby shirt and black jeans. I then threw on a pair of blue sneakers and my glasses. As I walked out of my room, I put on the daisy necklace I wore everyday, along with my lumos and nox earrings. Lastly, I threw my hair up into a bun and walked out of my room, grabbing my bag on the way out.

Today I will go to all of my classes before lunch because they cut them in half. It is the day of the aptitude test. The day I would be tested to see which faction I belonged in. I am completely and utterly terrified. My mother obviously wants me to be in Erudite, but I do not belong here. These past sixteen years are not what I want for the rest of my life. I want to be free. Here, I cannot. Amity and Dauntless are the ones with the most freedom. Let's hope my aptitude shows that I belong in one of them. My thought were interrupted when my mother called my name.

"Mia," she sounds concerned. My mother is never concerned. I turn around the corner and head towards the front door, but she stops me.

"Yes, mother?" I ask as she grabs my wrist.

"Good luck today." She gives a tight smile. It is tight, but it is real. I feel myself nodding slowly.

"Thank you, mother." I reply returning the tight smile. She then releases my wrist from her grip and I walk out the door. The cool air helps wake me up as I rush to school. I barely made it through the door of my mathematics class as the bell rang. I sighed in relief as I made my way to the back of the room. My seat was surrounded by Dauntless, well except the seat to my right. I have always been called a know-it-all, but the Candor beside me, James. He was a complete bully who could not shut his mouth. He annoyed me to no end. I often found myself in arguments with him. The most serious ones ended in a punch to his face, or arm. It only happened a few times. Most of these times were when I saw him bullying an innocent Amity or Abnegation kid. Despite my faction's hate for Abnegation, I always looked up to them in a way. No matter what, they were willing to help another without judging. It was a quality I wish I possessed.

"Alright, alright." My teacher calls over the buzz of the student's chatter. This is your last grade you will receive from me. The Dauntless around me cheered. I smiled a bit in relief.

"Thank God." I muttered under my breath. She then began to hand out the last test back to the students in the front, the rest of the Erudites. I was the only one towards the back.

"What?" I heard James say loudly beside me. I roll my eyes and try not to pay attention to him. My desk was suddenly the most interesting thing in the world. "A Nose is excited to not receive any more grades? It must be the end of the world!" Many on the outside might see this as a harmless joke, but it is not. I notice the cruel undertone in his cocky voice.

"I would you suggest that you shut your mouth, Candor." I hear a voice beside me say. I raise a brow and look over, surprised at the boy beside me. Uriah Pedrad. A Dauntless born. I had been in a lot of classes with him over the years. Whenever there was a partner project, he would come over to work with me. He did not do it because he was lazy and wanted an Erudite to do all the work, he did it to talk to me. Uriah is the closest thing to a friend I have. I shoot him a grateful smile. He smiles back at me. I hear James scoff. I look over and he begins to open his mouth again, but I cut him off.

"Can you not shut your mouth for five fucking seconds?" I ask, plainly irritated. I hear Uriah trying unsuccessfully to muffle a laugh. James looks kind of shocked.

"What, Nose?" He asks. "You going to transfer to be with your boyfriend? You would not last 5 minutes in Dauntless." He laughs. I clench my fist.

"You know, for a Candor you're a terrible liar, James." I replied, keeping my cool. I see Uriah raise a brow at my response.

"Oh really, how am I lying?" He asks, obviously embarrassed, but instead of blushing he hardens his eyes.

"You know I can fight." I reply, looking at my teacher, she is almost to our row.

"Not really." He replies gruffly. I give a sarcastic snort.

"I knew I could punch, but I never knew I could cause brain damage." Uriah doesn't hold in his laughter this time. Our teacher is now at our row. She gives me the _what the heck are you doing_ look. I just smile politely at her as Uriah tries to compose himself. She then turns her attention back to him.

"Good job, Uriah." She smiles down at him as she hands him his test. It is an A. I stop myself from looking shocked when I see my grade. She gives me a bit of a disappointed glance over her wire glasses. I just look up at her, waiting for her to assess my grade.

"You are not living up to your potential, Mia." She begins in a disappointed tone. I see James smirk out of the corner of my eye, and Uriah now has a bit of a frown on his face. "To succeed in Erudite you must be able to do these problems, I would suggest you think hard on your future." She tells me.

"I've already thought of my future." I reply to her honestly. She seems shocked.

"Really, now?" She asks, shifting the papers in her arm. "I would have thought that you would have put more effort into your future." She finishes looking confused.

"Who said my future was in Erudite?" I ask her bluntly. It is Uriah's turn to smirk. I smile as well. I sounded exactly like a Dauntless. Maybe I did belong there.

"That is true, it is such a shame though, you would make an amazing librarian. I know you did not study for your last english and history exams, you had double the score that you did on my test in those subjects." I nod. I made a 50 on my math test.

"Thank you, ma'am." I reply politely. "But I want to actually live in the present, not the past." She nods and then moves on to James, praising him. He would actually make a good Erudite. I sigh and stuff the failing grade into my journal. I feel a tug on my sleeve and I look up to see Uriah smiling at me. I raise a brow.

"And how may I help you?" He laughs.

"Want to sit together at lunch? I want to introduce you to some friends." This shocks me, I'm a little suspicious but I agree anyways. Sitting with the Dauntless is way better than sitting with the Erudites. You don't have to argue as much.

"Sure." I smile back at him. His fist punches the air and I laugh as the bell rings. Uriah and I stand and walk out of the room.

"See you at lunch, Mia." He waves as he walks the other direction. I smile and wave back, walking towards my next class, faction history.

By the time lunch rolls around, I am exhausted. I slowly walk into the cafeteria, and see a very hyper Uriah waving at me. I roll my eyes and walk over.

"Hey Mia!" He says with his mouth full with a hamburger. I snort.

"Hey Uriah." I smile as I sit across from him.

"This is Marlene," he smiles at the girl to his right. It's obvious he has a thing for her. I smile at her politely. Surprisingly she returns the smile. "And this is Lynn." He ruffles the hair of the girl to his left. She rolls her eyes and shoots him the bird before tucking into her food.

"Where's your food?" Marlene asks me, shooting me a concerned glance. I forgot to grab my lunch. Whoops. I automatically bring my hand to cup the back to my neck as I give her a sheepish look.

"I kinda forgot it at home." I reply. She shakes her head and pushes some cake towards me. I raise my brow, but take it anyways. The Dauntless have a thing for chocolate cake. Uriah looks completely excited, and looks over with interest. Marlene has a look of amusement on her face.

"What?" I ask looking at all three of them.

"A person's first experience with Dauntless chocolate cake is a euphoric experience." Uriah wiggles his eyebrows at Marlene when she finished her explanation.

"Shut up, Uri." She rolls her eyes and laughs. I snort and take a bite of the cake. I almost drop the fork as I swallow. They look worriedly at me. I then smirk at Uriah.

"I never knew you could have a foodgasm." Uriah bursted out into laughter, this time Lynn joined him as Marlene just rolled her eyes at us. I caught an amused smirk on her face.

"Thanks for the cake, Marlene." I gave her a cheeky smile.

"You're welcome." She mumbles and then sighs. Uriah looks over at her concerned.

"You okay?" He asks quietly. She nods.

"I'm just stuck with another one of you now. Why did you have to go corrupt this poor girl?" She asks him. I laugh.

"Hey! I never corrupted her, she corrupted herself!" He exclaims. I roll my eyes.

"I never knew such a thing was possible." I tell him, my voice filled with sarcasm.

"Well," he pauses to think, "you're just a bad Erudite." He sticks his tongue out at me. Lynn elbows him.

"Low blow," she hisses. I smile at her.

"I know I am." I reply cheekily at Uriah as I grab a grape from his tray and plop it in my mouth. He just rolls his eyes at me. Lynn looks surprised, but doesn't question me.

"Alright everyone." We hear a voice call throughout the room. "Lunch is now over, please leave the lunchroom if you are not testing today!" The Erudite man calls. "We will begin testing shortly." He finishes his speech and moves from the doors of the lunchroom and sits by a Dauntless woman, I had seen her here last year around testing time. I guess she was there to test the stiffs.

"So," Uriah says as I finish my last bite of cake. "You ready for your test?" He asks me.

"Yup." I reply simply.

"You sure you're not scared?" Lynn asks. She's testing me in a way.

"Nope." I reply honestly. "I think I know what my result will be, and even despite what the test says, I might still transfer to the faction I want to be in." I reply to her. She looks me in the eye and nods.

"You're alright, Nose." She smirks and grabs the tray Marlene's cake was on.

"Thanks, Lynn." I smirk back. Uriah just shakes his head at me. I stick out my tongue and he tosses a paper ball at me. I catch it and throw it back at him, hitting him on the tip of my nose.

"Oh, you want to fight?" He taunts me as he reaches to pick up the ball.

"Is it really a fight if we know I will win?" I taunt back. Marlene gets a grin on her face. She is about to add to the conversation when the Erudite man begins to speak again.

"We will call ten of you to take your test, when your name is called, you will follow us to your testing site." Some nod, I just stare over at the door. This test will help me choose my future. For the better or the worst. I zone out as he begins calling names. I suddenly feel a light kick to my shin. I don't flinch, which surprises Lynn.

"They called your name, Nose." I give her a tight smile.

"Thanks." I say as I grab my bag.

"Be brave, Mia." Uriah says to me.

"Always." I smile back.

"Nerd." He calls out to me.

"You're a nerd for knowing the reference." I retort, smirking over my shoulder. He rolls his eyes and motions with his hands for me to keep moving. I sigh and walk over to the Erudite man. He motions for me to join the line. I go to the back. We then follow an Abnegation woman down a hallway that I had never been in before. She makes everyone stop in front of a door. I am in front of number 10.

"Alright, you all my enter the rooms. Good luck." The woman that led us into the hallway says softly. I take a deep breath and walk into the room. The room, unlike others, was surrounded in mirrors. In the center was a chair that looked like a dentist's. At the computer was an Abnegation woman with dark brown hair pulled to the back to her head.

"My name is Natalie Prior, have a seat, Mia." She smiles at me softly. One of my biggest fears is the dentist office. I swallow hard and drop my bag to the side of the chair as I slowly recline back into it. attaches some wires from the computer to my head and hands me a shot glass.

"What is it?" I ask her, my brow furrowed.

"Bottoms up." She retorted, still smiling. I sigh and hold my nose as I down the shot. I close my eyes as I hand the glass back to Mrs. Prior. My vision begins to blur.


	3. Chapter 2

_**Merry Christmas!**_ _I don't know how much I will be updating the next few weeks due to school starting back up, a possible new job, and youtube videos. Hopefully will be updating 1-2 a week starting in January! _

I opened my eyes, and I was transported back into the lunchroom. How is that possible? No one else is in here though, is testing over? I look out one of the windows. It is snowing. I didn't know it would be snowing later today. The walk home would be interesting. I sighed and made my way towards the door, but was stopped by a voice.

"Choose." A woman says. My brows furrow, and when I turn around, I see a knife and a piece of cheese. I grab the knife. It would last longer than the cheese. As soon as I pick up the knife, the baskets disappear. I look around me and only see mirrors. A growl interrupts my thoughts. I look behind me and see a dog running towards me at top speed. I freeze. I immediately drop to my knees and lower my eyes, showing my submission to the dog. I glance up and see it has turned into a puppy. I smile a bit before I see a little girl in the distance.

"Puppy!" She says, excited. I watch as the once puppy turns back into a large dog. It snarls at her, and I react immediately, stepping on its tail as it begins to stalk towards the girl. It turns around to me and pounces. I stab it before it can bite me. As the scene in front of me changes, I pull the knife out and keep a tight hold on it, I might need it later. I am back in the testing room this time, but I cannot see myself in any of the mirrors. I walk to the door. As I push it forward, I feel exhausted. I take the only seat on the bus, by an old Candor man in the back of the bus. After sitting there for a minute the man points to the newspaper in his hand.

"Have you seen this man?" He asks me. I shake my head. I feel like I have seen the man in the picture before, but I do not know for sure. The old man begins to look angry. He asks me the same question, I answer the same. This time seeming more sure of my answer. His face hardens like James. I lock my jaw to stop myself from saying anything.

"Do you not see that if you know him, you could save me!" The man yells at me. I shake my head again.

"I'm sorry, sir. I don't know him." I reply, sympathy present in my voice. As soon as the words leave my mouth, I look up and see the man. I feel a gasp in my throat. The man has a knife, almost identical to my own. His, like mine, has blood on it. I stand up to move off the bus, to escape, but the old man stops me.

"You lied! You lied! At least try to save me now!" He begs me, desperate. The man from the paper is walking towards us now, the bus is in motion. I stable myself against the pole, blocking the old man, protecting him. The man from the paper is factionless. I can see it by his clothing. I swallow hard as he walks up to me.

"And what do you think you are doing, little girl?" His voice stinks of alcohol.

"Nothing sir." I respond, my brow raised. "And what are you doing?" I ask. He smirks.

"I am here to kill that old man that you are protecting." He laughs and tries to stumble around me. I block him. His force surprising me, but I hold my ground. He grunts, angry this time, and tries to stab me with the knife in his hand. It is too late though. I stabbed him as soon as he raised his knife. I am suddenly back in the testing room, again. This time I feel removing the wires connected to my head and I sit up, checking for blood on my shirt. There is none.

"Is it over?" I gasp for breath. She gives me a sympathetic smile and nods. I nod back as well sinking back into the chair. "What were my results?" I ask.

"They were inconclusive." She responds seriously.

"No! They couldn't have been I'm not." She cuts me off.

"You are Divergent, Mia." She says seriously. I feel my hands begin to shake.

"Which ones were ruled out?" I ask, my throat raspy.

"Erudite and Candor." Was her response. I nod. "I had to change the simulation to see if I could rule out any factions. I had a feeling about Candor, but I had to be sure." She sighs as she sits. I nod again, feeling like a zombie. "Erudite would have been possible for your first response to the dog, but on the bus you choose to stay rather than leaving, which would be the logical way out."

"Okay." My voice cracks.

"You got Dauntless for picking the knife and your bravery with not only the man on the bus with the knife, but for your response with the dog as well. The response to the dog is also the reason you saved the little girl." She pauses, thinking. I break the silence.

"Is bravery and selflessness different? From what I can tell they are not." I say. She smiles proudly at me.

"I believe the same thing, Mia." She tells me softly. My brow furrows a bit in thought.

"How was Amity not ruled out?" I ask.

"It normally would have been ruled out because you did not choose the cheese, but there is a dilemma." She looks at her wrist, checking the time. "In the second situation, you kept the peace in the bus for as long as possible, which points towards an aptitude towards Amity." She finishes.

"So what faction do I choose?" I ask her.

"That is your own choice, Mia." She begins. "Your aptitude showed the highest for Dauntless, then Abnegation, and then Amity. I would suggest that you choose the faction that you feel the safest in." She smiles at me and motions for me to get up. I grab my bag and look at her before I stand.

"What if I do not want to be safe?" I ask honestly. She gives me a smirk that I have only seen the Dauntless wear. Was she Dauntless? Possibly.

"Then I think you know what to choose." She smiles as she opens the door to the room. I nod to her. "I will manually enter in Dauntless as your result, as it was the highest. And I know you already know this, but this is very serious. You must try to keep this as quiet as possible, okay?" I nod again in understanding.

"Thank you, Mrs. Prior." I tell her as I place my bag on my shoulder.

"It's Natalie to you Mia." She smiles broadly, I fight the urge to return it. "Be Brave." She whispers, pushing me out the door. I swallow my nerves before walking back towards the lunchroom. When I enter, the room is half empty. They must have dismissed the first half. I sigh and go back to where I was sitting before. I see Uriah with his head in his hands. I bite my lip as I drop my bag on the table. He jumps startled. When he sees me, he relaxes.

"Everything alright?" I ask him.

"Yeah." He nods. He is lying.

"I hope you're not choosing Candor." I smirk at him. He gives a nervous laugh and shakes his head.

"My test ruled that one out pretty well." He still looks nervous. I see an Erudite official looking at me. I decide to sit with my back to them. That way they can't read my lips. There is only a wall behind me. Instead of walking around, I stand on my seat, and stand on the table to plop down by Uriah. I place an arm around his shoulders. It does not go all the way across.

"Well," I begin in a hushed whisper, my head lowered to where only Uriah could hear. "My test only ruled out two factions." I tell him. His eyes fill with shock.

"I'm not the only one?" He asks. I shake my head, laughing a bit.

"Nope." I reply.

"Which ones were ruled out for you?" He asks, curious.

"Erudite and Candor." I laugh a bit. "And you?" I ask, just as curious.

"Candor." Was his reply. I smile.

"Makes since." He rolls his eyes.

"Where do you think you'll go?"

"I think you know where I'm going." He rolls his eyes. "And you?" I ask.

"I'm staying in Dauntless." He smiles proudly.

"Oh really? I didn't know they accepted pansycakes." I say as I see Marlene walk towards us. Uriah hits me on the back of the head and I remove my arm from his shoulder.

"Marlene, your boyfriend is being abusive!" I whine to her as she sits down across from us.

"One," she begins. "That pansycake is not my boyfriend." I see the hurt and hope in her and Uriah's eyes. "Two, even if I was, I couldn't control him, he's like a toddler." I snort in reply.

"You've got that right." I feel another slap. I then hear heels clicking on the floor. I look behind me and see the same Erudite official from earlier.

"You all are dismissed." She smiles tightly at us. Just like my mother. I sigh and stand, grabbing my bag as I feel Uriah's arm hang across my shoulder.

"You're Dauntless through and through Mia. All you have to do is stay brave." He smiled down at me and squeezed my shoulders and then extended his other arm over Marlene's shoulder as we walked out of the room.

"Has Lynn already left?" I ask. Uriah nods.

"The test made her feel sick, so they let her out early." I nod. I see Marlene's face relax. She was worried too. As we walk outside, I see Uriah is lost in thought. I poke his side and he flinches.

"You're ticklish?" I laugh. Marlene snorts and nods. Uriah just shakes his head.

"You're mean." He pouts. I laugh harder.

"What's so thought provoking?" I ask him as we walk towards the train tracks.

"I didn't see a car, how are you getting home?"

"I planned on walking, but I think I'm going to take the train." I reply.

"You take the train?" Marlene asks. I nod slightly.

"Sometimes I take it if I'm too lazy to walk all the way home." She just shakes her head at me.

"When will it get here, anyway?" I look down at my watch.

"In about two minutes." I reply. Uriah raises a brow.

"Did you memorize the schedule?"

"Nope. I just normally take this one if I stay late." I reply honestly, walking a bit closer to the tracks as I hear the El approach.

"See Marlene?" I hear Uriah ask behind me as I run to hop on the train. I hit the button opening the door and pull myself in, throwing my bag in the corner.

"Dauntless through and through." Uriah smirks as he climbs in the car after Marlene. She just smiles over at me, and then faces Uriah.

"I hate to say this, but you're right, pansycake." I snort and sit down and lean against the wall. I only have ten minutes until I get home, they have at least twenty left on here. I begin to doze off when I feel a nudge at my feet.

"Huh?" I ask groggily.

"Wakey, wakey sleepy head. We're almost at Erudite." Uriah smiles at me from across the car. Marlene is curled up in his side, fast asleep. I smile at the two.

"You better ask her out during initiation." I warn Uriah as I stand and grab my bag.

"Ma'am yes ma'am!" He salutes me. I roll my eyes. I see the patch of grass where I normally jump off at. I brace myself for the jump.

"See ya tomorrow pansycake!" I call behind me as I jump. I look back at the train as it curves, I see a middle finger pointed at me from Uriah's side of the car. I laugh to myself as I dust myself off. I look down at my watch. Crap. I'm supposed to be home in five minutes. I quickly make my way through the alleyways to my home. I'm ten minutes late.

"Where have you been?" My mother asks from the kitchen.

"I took the train home, I was tired after my test." I reply honestly. I can tell she is furious. She comes towards me with the skillet in her hand. I stand my ground.

"The ceremony is tomorrow, mother." I whisper. She nods and motions for me to turn around. I flinch and walk over to our dining room table. I brace myself against it as I take my sweater into my mouth. I feel my mother raise up the sweater and slam the skillet into my back. I do not scream. I clench my jaw to stop myself. The only sound in the house now is my heavy labored breaths. She places my shirt back down and goes back into the kitchen. I do not move. I feel tears in my eyes. I close my eyes and the tears escape. I will not stay here. I must get out. I begin to see black spots, so I even my breathing. Getting on the train tomorrow is going to hurt like a.

"Take this. Go upstairs and think." My mother says shortly to me. I grunt and grab the apple she placed on the table and slowly walk up the stairs, not even bothering to grab my bag. It didn't matter. I wouldn't have it tomorrow. The only thing I will take is my father's journal. I will hide it in my clothes. He was Dauntless. I am Dauntless.


	4. Chapter 3

I hear my alarm go off. I slowly move to shut it off. I didn't want to irritate the burn on my back. As soon as the beeping stops, I groan and bury my head into my pillow. Today is the choosing ceremony. I slowly raise myself up from my bed, making my way to the bathroom. Once inside, I slide my loose night shirt off and grab a healing salve from the cabinet. I do not want to look at the wound, so I don't glance in the mirror. Instead, I close my eyes and lock my jaw. Slowly applying the salve. After applying it generously, I then grab an extra packet of the salve from the closet. I would need to apply it in two days. Then the burn should be healed pretty well. It will leave one hell of a scar, but it will not hurt anymore. I try to quickly put the shirt back over my head as I make my way to my room. When I get there I see a typical blue skirt and a baggy black blouse on my bed. I snort. I quickly go to my closet, grabbing a pair of blue jeans with deep pockets, and the black blouse. I put them on, and then I grab my father's journal and the salve and stuff them in my pockets. Thanks for keep a smaller journal, dad. I then walk back to the bathroom and finish my morning routine before walking downstairs. My mother made breakfast. We both eat quickly, without speaking. I place my dishes in the sink.

"It's your turn to do them tonight, don't forget." She says. I roll my eyes and turn around to face her.

"I could never forget, mother." I give her the fake smile as I usually do. She nods.

"Then let us go to the ceremony then." She replies as she takes her keys off of the table in the foyer. I smile to myself, a real smile. I will never have to enter this house again. I feel giddy at the thought. We quickly make our way to our car and head towards the Hub. Once we get there, my mother heads towards the elevator, it seems packed.

"You go ahead," I tell her. She just nods as I head towards the stairs. I only see Dauntless and Abnegation. I am the only Erudite. Screw small spaces. If I wasn't claustrophobic, I wouldn't be breathing heavily at the floor of the ceremony. I run my hand through my loose, now slightly damp hair. I walk over the where the line is forming. I see Uriah in the line and smirk. He is standing near the Dauntless, so this will be hilarious. I sneak behind him, as I need to walk towards the back of the line, while he is in the middle. The Dauntless he is talking to seems to be his brother, judging by their looks and joking. I smirk to myself and poke both of his sides roughly. He lets out a squeak and jumps from his spot. I start laughing and the Dauntless who saw the event started laughing as well.

"I am so going to get you back for that, Nose." Uriah says loudly grabbing my head and pulling it under his arm. His arm touches my back and I flinch. He immediately pulls away.

"Mia, what happened?"

"It's nothing." I smile at him.

"I hope you're not going to Candor, Nose. They'd see through that lie in a minute." The boy who I assume to be Uriah's brother says. He isn't teasing. The look on his face is of concern.

"I hate to agree with my pansycake of a brother, but Zeke's right." Uriah says looking down at me. I just sigh.

"You're a pansycake too, Uriah." I shoot him a smirk. He rolls his eyes and smiles slightly. "I'll tell you later, alright?" I ask him. He shoots a look to Zeke who just nods slightly.

"After dinner, bring her up to mom's Uriah." He says, in a _you have no choice in this_ tone. "And you should get to your spot in line, missy." He waves his finger at me. I roll my eyes and salute.

"Sir yes sir!" He snorts and Uriah pushes me towards the back of the line, by the arm, careful not to push my back. By the time I get to my spot, the ceremony is about to start. I zoned out until I heard a lot of unrest. Caleb Prior, an Abnegation transferred to Erudite. That's not surprising. I had seen him in the library a lot. Another Stiff went, and then came Uriah. He looked back and shot Zeke a smirk, and then found me and raised an eyebrow. I gave him an excited thumbs-up. He shook his head and took the knife from Marcus. He quickly cut his thumb and let the blood drip over the sizzling coals. The Dauntless began to cheer and I couldn't help but clap myself. By now I was standing beside Zeke again. He looked up at me from his seat with a look of concern but I gave him a reassuring smile. He gave me a tentative one back and nodded. The line moved again as another Dauntless choose Dauntless.

"See you soon, Nose." I hear Zeke tease.

"Yeah, yeah. See you soon, pansycake." I teased back as he rolled his eyes. The ceremony was dragging on until I was next. I spared a look over at my mother. She was on her tablet. I rolled my eyes. Typical. Uriah saw my gaze and when I looked at him, he shot me a sympathetic smile to which I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Johnson, Mia." I hear Marcus call my name. I walk towards him confidently. He hands me the knife, and I immediately walk over to the bowls. I quickly cut my palm and hold it out over the Dauntless bowl, without thinking like many of the other teens. I hear a couple of gasps. My mother and only one other Erudite were apart of the council that ran our government. It was always shocking to see a council member's child transfer.

"Dauntless!" Marcus calls after shaking himself from his shock. I quickly grab a bandage and walk towards the Dauntless. I spared a look at my mother once I was beside Uriah and Lynn, by now no one else was looking at me other than Zeke, Lynn, and Uriah. I flipped my mom the bird. Not the smartest decision, I know. But that is why I am not an Erudite anymore. My mother gets a shocked look on her face and I just smirk and turn back towards Marcus. I feel Uriah shaking in laughter beside me. The ceremony goes by quickly now, and the second me are dismissed, the Dauntless begin to run down the steps. We then run to the train tracks. We are going to jump on the train.

"They can't be serious." I hear Peter, a Candor who reminded me of James states as he breathes heavily.

"No we're just going to stand here and watch the sunset." I begin with a scoff. "If you didn't want to have to work, you should have chosen a different faction, Candor." I tell him. He opens his mouth to retort but Marlene shoots him a look to shut him up. I shoot her a grateful smile which she returns. I then hear the train in the distance.

"Trains coming, you ready pansycake?" I hear Uriah tease behind me. I roll my eyes.

"I was born ready, Uriah." I hear him laugh and I see the weird look Peter gives me, one of jealousy, and anger. I would have to watch him. I see the train coming and I begin running along the track behind Marlene, and in front of Uriah. He could have easily gone before me, but he wanted to watch me. I smile to myself a bit. I think I will have a true family here. As soon as Marlene on the train, I grab the door and pull myself in. I feel a strong hand pulling me from the door as Uriah jumps in. I look up and see it was Zeke. I shoot him a smile and he returns it, and then leads me to sit down. I look around the compartment. I see a guy with longer hair, and a lot of piercings. His brow is raised. I had seen him in Erudite before. He was one of the Dauntless leaders. Beside him sat a woman I saw at the aptitude testing days. Beside her was another woman that I had never seen before. She had short hair, and she just looked strong. And beside her sat Zeke. They were together, or they were like Marlene and Uriah, they both cared about each other but were too nervous to say anything about it. After Lynn sat down beside me, the girl by Zeke spoke up.

"It's not often a transfer makes it to the first compartment." I look around. I am the only one. Lynn was the last one to make the first car. "My name is Shauna." I just give her a tight smile and shrug in reply.

"Especially an injured one." Zeke adds. The leader cuts in at that.

"Injured?" I lock my jaw. Zeke nods.

"Something on her back, don't worry Eric. I'm going to take her to my mom to get her fixed up after dinner." Eric, the leader nods. I can't help but open my mouth, and Erudite trait that I should really kick.

"I'm fine, Zeke." Uriah just snorts.

"Tell me that tomorrow after training, Mia." I roll my eyes and relax against the cool train. It isn't long before I see the members stand up. I see Eric hop off the train, followed by the other members. I look at Lynn, who seems frozen.

"Together?" I ask. She nods.

"Together." And we jump.

_**Alright! That's all for this chapter, hope you all enjoyed. Let me know what you think! **_


	5. Chapter 4

_**Thank you all for the reviews! Also, to the guests that questioned about Lynn, as far as her looking frozen, it's because they are so high up. From what I kind of assumed, the Dauntless kids normally get out of the train at an earlier stop as they are not allowed to know about the jumping into the net at the beginning of initiation. And I don't know, maybe Lynn is divergent, maybe she is not….maybe we'll find out soon? **_

I let out a grunt of pain as my back hits the rooftop. I'm distracted from my pain when I hear screaming. Someone didn't make the jump. I look over the edge biting my lip. I didn't want to look, but I had a feeling that I would be seeing stuff like this and that I would need to get used to it. At the base of the building was a girl in dark clothing, her limbs contorted into unnatural positions. I felt my breathing become more labored. I would need to calm down. I took a deep breath to steady myself as I turned my back to the scene. My eyes found the pebbles on the roof to be the most interesting thing. I felt a hand on my forearm. I look up expecting it to be Uriah. It is not. When I look up I see Eric. He is looking down at me with a look of concern on his face. I see him look over to where some of the other initiates were. They were on the other side of the roof with a man who was standing on the ledge. The man on the ledge raises his eyebrow at Eric in question. Eric just tightens his grip on my arm and motions for me to stand alongside the other initiates. I nod to him in thanks before we part. I slowly walk towards Lynn and grab her arm like Eric had mine. I felt the man's eyes on me, but I ignored him. I shoot Lynn a tight smile. She returns it.

"Congrats on making it, Nose." She smirks over at me.

"Thanks, Lynn." I smirk back. We stand in a comfortable, well, as comfortable as the situation would allow, silence. The other initiates slowly join us by the ledge. The man from earlier begins to speak.

"My name is Max, I am one of the five leaders here at Dauntless." He begins, slowly accessing all of the initiates, most lower their eyes. When he gets to me, I don't lower mine. If you cannot look a leader in the eye, then why even bother being here?

"As per Dauntless tradition, we let the initiates enter first. All you have to do is jump off this ledge." He smirks as he steps down onto the roof from the ledge. "So who's first?"

"What, is there water at the bottom of it or something?" An Erudite asks. I recognized him, Edward. He was always nice to me, one of the only ones to not look down on me for my grades.

"I guess you'll find out." Max smirks at him. I see some of the dauntless laugh beside him. I see Zeke watching Uriah. There logically had to be a net or water at the bottom. No one would willingly watch their family jump and kill themselves.

"We just jumped, now they want us to jump again?" I hear a candor say beside me. I snort.

"No shit sherlock. No, actually, they want us to just stand here for the rest of the day." I see Zeke chuckling next to Eric who has a smirk on his face. I feel a blush across my cheeks. They heard me. Oops. I sigh and take a step forward.

"Eager?" Max asks. with a smirk.

"Heights and I normally don't mix," I begin. He nods for me to continue. "If something scares me, I'd rather go ahead and do it to conquer it." I tell him honestly as I stand on the ledge.

"Dauntless way of thinking." He mumbles under his breath, thinking I can't hear. Then louder he addresses me. "You can go ahead, Nose." He finishes. I nod and just step off the ledge, aiming towards the middle of the gaping hole in the ground. I feel hard netting catch me and hiss as my back hits it. I grunt as I am pulled from the net.

"What's your name?" A guy in all black asks. "No better yet, who pushed you?" I snort. Despite the concerned look on his face, I'm assuming about my reaction to the net, he is joking. I still hated when people underestimated me.

"One, no one pushed me, and two my name is Mia." I tell him. He nods with a raised brow and looks at a girl beside him. She has long blonde hair.

"Want to announce it, Six?" He asks. She nods.

"Sure, Four." She turns around to the Dauntless around the net.

"First jumper, Mia!" Six calls out and motions for me to walk over by the wall. I lean casually against it waiting for the rest of the initiates to jump. Uriah squeals like a little girl. I can't help but laugh a bit. Four announces Uriah as second jumper. I hear him tease Uriah as he walks towards me.

"What, Uri, trip like your brother?" Uriah just snorts and I smirk. That'd be a good thing to tease Zeke about later.

"Don't even think about it, Mia." Uriah warns.

"Think about what?" I raise a brow.

"Using that on Zeke. He'd kill me."

"Why would he kill you, technically Four was the one who got the information in my head." I point out.

"Don't put this on me, Nose!" I hear Four call behind his shoulder as he helps Edward from the net. I snort.

"Wouldn't dream of it!." I call back. I see Six shake her head at us.

"Why must I deal with all these children?" She asks under her breath.

"Zeke would kill me cause I'm his kid brother, that's why." Uriah smirks at me, finishing our conversation.

"Hmm." I begin. "Maybe I should tease Zeke about it later." I laugh a bit as Uriah hits the back of my head.

"Do it, you're dead." He tells me. I snort.

"Sir yes sir!" I salute and he rolls his eyes at me. We stand in a comfortable silence as we watch the rest of the initiates jump into the net. Once all of us are safely on our feet, Four begins to talk.

"My name is Four." I hear the Candor from earlier snort and I look at Marlene. We share a look of amusement.

"What's so funny, initiate?" Four asks her.

"Uh, nothing sir." She replies, clearly intimidated. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Eric, Zeke, and Shauna walk down some steps with the other Dauntless from the roof. Four motions for us to follow him and we walk around Zeke. I can't help myself, I fake trip and I feel a slap to the back of my head. Zeke is shaking his head and flips the bird to Four's back. I can't help but laugh a bit. Four turns around and looks at me.

"Nothing." I reply, a shit-eating smile was on my face. I knew he knew I was lying. Zeke flips him the bird again and I just point to Zeke. Four gives me a death glare.

"You're going to regret that initiate." I can tell he's joking but pretend to act scared as to not tip off the transfers. We had been split, Dauntless borns and transfers will be trained separately for stage one, unfortunately. I already missed Uri, Lynn, and Marlene. At least Eric was training us along with Four. A lot of people seemed to be intimidated by Eric, especially the transfers. I don't know why I wasn't. Maybe it was knowing my dad had piercings at one point as well, even though he was a complete softie. It might have just been how he looked concerned for me, maybe I felt a connection. Who knows? Maybe I was just crazy, but Eric didn't scare me. As Four lead us down a dark hallway, Eric finally introduced himself to us.

"My name is Eric, I am another one of your leaders here at Dauntless, I will be assisting Four in your training."

"What, Four can't handle the little transfers?" Peter whispers to his shadows. I snort.

"Maybe it's so more people can enjoy beating the shit out of you, Peter." I say as I walk past him, walking directly behind Eric and Four.

"Damn Nose, not even here for an hour and you know us so well." Eric calls over his shoulder. I just roll my eyes. I feel Peter glaring daggers in my back.

"Take a picture Candor. It'll last longer." I tell him looking over my shoulder. Eric turns and raises a brow at me. A smirk is dancing across his face.

"You know, Four. I think we actually have a natural Dauntless on our hands." Eric tells Four as we turn a corner.

"Makes sense." I say under my breath. I see Four look at me from the corner of his eyes.

"And why is that, Mia?" He asks. He didn't call me Nose. Maybe he actually saw me as Dauntless.

"My dad was Dauntless. Only reason he switched was to make my mom happy." I tell him with a shrug. Four just nods in understanding.

"Maybe you should have stayed in Erudite, Nose. Since you have an answer to everything." Peter calls from behind me. I see Eric's hand clench into a fist. I feel the need to hold it, to try to relax him, but I don't dare try it. I may be dumb, but I don't want a death wish. I just snort.

"Too dumb for Erudite." I call behind me.

"Really now?" He's just asking to be punched. "Is that why your mommy beat you?" He asks in a condescending tone, he thinks he's too quiet for Eric and Four to hear. I see them immediately tense.

"Among other reasons." I begin. I see Four's eyes widen. I turn around forcing Peter to stop as well. "And if you think that the way I was raised is going to be a soft spot for me, you're wrong. So try again, Candor." I say before turning back around to follow Four and Eric. They're both looking at me with pity in their eyes, but in Four's I see something more. And it shocks me. I see understanding. I sigh and motion for them to continue, and they do. Not before Eric pulls me up to walk between them. Dauntless do not walk in step like many other factions, I notice this by the sound echoing throughout the corridor. We are Dauntless, yes. But we are free. And by being free, we do not keep the same pace as each other. We all create a rhythm by the different pounding of feet. Not once have I ever felt I was home before today. But here, in a wet, dark, corridor flanked by two guys that could kill me in a second if they really wanted to, I felt like I was finally home.


	6. Chapter 5

**_Dear Reviewers,_**

**_I love you. Have a cookie._**

**_Also, yes Mia seems to know a lot about the Dauntless. The reason she does is because she is very perceptive, and naturally outgoing like many Dauntless. Plus having friends already in Dauntless helps her get to know more people. Alright, notes are done, enjoy the chapter!_**

Once we had walked a little bit longer, we came to double doors that lead to a large cavern. There were multiple pathways leading to different places. Through one near the center of the room, I saw what looked like a dining hall. I was then distracted by some young children dressed in all black. They were running, and playing along the narrow paths. I felt a smile form on my face as I watched them.

"This is the Pit." Four called over his shoulder to the other initiates. I see a lot of people forming small and large groups within the pit. They are all talking, dancing, laughing, and fighting loudly. Maybe by this time next year, I will be one of them.

"The Pit is the center of life here at Dauntless, you will find that you spend most of your time here." I can understand that. It looked like there were many different shops and places for leisure activities. I see what looks like to be a tattoo shop on one of the levels. I would definitely be heading there soon. I am jolted from my thoughts when I feel a slight push on my shoulder. Four has started walking away from the Pit. Eric motions for me to go first on the narrow path. We eventually make our way to another opening. I hear a river roaring. I feel the roar. It makes my body feel awake. I feel alive.

"This is the Chasm." Four calls out over the roar of the water below. "The chasm reminds us that there is a fine line between bravery and idiocy!" He shouts this time. I see Eric, now standing beside me roll his eyes and smirk. "A daredevil jump off this ledge will end your life. It has happened before and it will happen again. You've been warned." I see Six begin to walk up to Four on the bridge. She whispers in his ear and he just shakes his head.

"Due to a minor altercation in the dining hall, Eric will be showing you to your room first. You will change clothes, and then meet him at the bottom of the pit, he'll show you the dining hall." Four calls out to us before nodding to Eric. He just sighs in annoyance.

"Alright initiates, you heard him. Follow me." Eric says, grabbing my arm as we walk across the bridge. Once on the other side, he lets go of my arm. I find myself missing the warmth. No. No, Mia. You can't fall in love. Especially not with a leader. You're just asking to get hurt. I shake my head a bit to clear my mind.

"So, what did he mean by room?" One of Peter's shadows asks.

"I'll show you." Eric smirks over his shoulder at her. I feel a tightness in my stomach. Stop that, Mia. He's not yours. Don't be jealous. Focus on training.

We continue to walk through the Pit until we reach a large cavernous opening. It is well lit, so I can easily see the bunks.

"Boys or girls?" Peter asks as he walks further into the room. I stood by Eric near the door, but then moved to the top bunk of the bed in front of me. I didn't want to be on the bottom, on top I would have a little more privacy, and from the corner of the room, I could see everything. A tall boy dressed in black and white sits on the bunk below me. Beside us is Myra and Edward. Both were from Erudite. Myra didn't seem to be Dauntless, I think she may have just followed Edward.

"Both." Eric smirked at him. This was my time to let out a sigh. Eric looks up at me and raises a brow. I just roll my eyes and begin to grab the clothes that were placed on the bed.

"Everyone change quickly and meet me in the Pit. There are a few rules I guess I should let you know of while you're changing though." Eric says, he raises a brow at one of Peter's shadows who just took her shirt off in front of him. I hold back my snort but a small huff lets out. He looks back at me and smirks.

"Well, get to it initiate." I roll my eyes at him again and quickly change my pants before changing shirts.

"Training starts at eight in the training room and goes until six. After that you are free to do whatever you want. Don't stay up to late, because if you're late you're out."

"Out?" The girl from earlier asks. She was starting to get on my nerves, but I don't say anything. and continue changing shirts. Eric looks surprised I didn't retort. While his eyes are on me, I hold up my black shirt from home.

"Mind if I keep this?" I ask. He just shrugs.

"Go ahead." I nod and quickly hide the journal and cream in the shirt before throwing it in a drawer by my head. "A few things can get you kicked out of Dauntless." Eric begins. I gulp. Don't say Divergent. Please don't say Divergent.

"Being late to training shows that you don't really want to be here. If you're late more than three times, you're out. Old age to the point you are unable to continue your job, murder, or abuse are other things that will get you kicked out." Eric finishes.

"What do you mean by abuse?" The Candor girl from earlier asks.

"Here at Dauntless, we don't support cowards. Abusing someone shows cowardice. A singular fight is okay, but abusing someone over time will not be accepted here." Eric says strongly. I smile a bit. "Lastly, here at Dauntless we use points for currency. You all have been given points for extra food not provided in the cafeteria, clothes, and whatever else you decide to use it for." He says, walking back to the door.

"Don't kill anyone." He adds, looking specifically at me. I just raise my now empty hands in surrender. I see the ghost of a smile on his face. A real smile. I can't help but smile at him as he shuts the door. I then grab my old pants and climb down the ladder.

"You already changed Nose? Can't believe I missed that." Peter calls to my back. I roll my eyes as I throw my old blue pants away. I then start towards the door when he speaks again.

"I really wanted to see your tits, maybe we can catch a shower together later, Nose?" I feel dirty and enraged at the same time. I quickly walk over to him and punch his nose.

"Go screw yourself, Peter because no one with a brain wants to." I say in his face. I see blood start to drip down his nose as I walk out of the room. I quickly retrace our earlier steps to the Pit and make my way down to the bottom. I don't see any of the Dauntless-borns, but I do see Zeke talking to Eric. I begin to make my way over to them.

"You alright, Nose?" Zeke asks as I walk up. I am massaging my throbbing knuckles.

"Perfectly fine." I say in a sickeningly sweet voice. It's joined by one of the fakest smiles I have ever given. He just snorts and grabs my hand. His eyebrow automatically raises and I see a look of amusement dance across his face.

"Already punch someone? Who pissed you off?" He asks.

"I didn't punch a person." I roll my eyes.

"So you punched a pig?" Eric asks. I nod.

"Peter is an asshole." He says thoughtfully.

"No shit." I snort.

"Why'd you punch him?" Zeke continues the interrogation.

"His exact words were, I really wanted to see your tits, maybe we can catch a shower together later, Nose." I reply rolling my eyes.

"And then you punched him." Eric finishes. I nod. "What did you say to him?" He asks.

"Go screw yourself, Peter because no one with a brain wants to." At that Zeke bursts out laughing and Eric give a sarcastic snort.

"He acts more like a nose than you do."

"I blame my genes." I say in reply.

"Wait you've got Dauntless in you?" Zeke asks. "Doesn't surprise me." He adds with a playful smirk. Him and his brother are a lot alike.

"Yeah. Dad was." I reply offhandedly as more transfers filtered in. Then I see Peter with his shadows behind him trying to make sure he's okay. His nose is already bruising and I can't help but smirk. I let out a large breath of air as I feel myself get elbowed in the ribs.

"Good job, Mia. Remind me to not piss you off after your training." I smirk over at Zeke.

"I'll try to remember that." He just shoots me an annoyed look and then smiles at Eric.

"Good luck with the kiddies."

"Yeah." Eric says sarcastically. I snort and shake my head at Zeke as he walks away towards the dining hall.

"Alright initiates. After lunch we will start with your physical training. So I suggest you eat up." Eric says as he follows Zeke's path from earlier. I trail behind a bit to talk to the Candor that bunks below me.

"My name is Mia." I tell him, shaking his hand. He smiles gratefully at me.

"I'm Al." He replies as he shakes my hand. I smile up at him as we walk into the cafeteria. I stop behind Eric. As soon as the Dauntless see us, they stand and begin to clap. I can't stop the wide smile that forms on my face. This is home. I am not sure what the future will bring, but for now I am okay. I am Dauntless.


	7. Chapter 6

Their cheers fade as initiates begin to sit down at the long wooden cafeteria tables. I look up at Al and see him motioning to an Amity girl to go ahead of him. He must like her. I slowly make my way behind him when I realize the only seat left is next to Six. I sigh inwardly. Sitting next to an instructor can be a blessing or a curse, and this being Dauntless, it might be a curse. I straighten my shoulders and sit down by Al. I feel Six look over at me but I'm motioning to the Amity girl and Al how to put together a hamburger. How could other factions not have burgers? My dad always made them when I was younger, and after he died I kept up the tradition, despite my mother's displeasure.

"How do you know how to make these things?" Al asks.

"She's Erudite, Al. Erudites know everything." The Candor girl from earlier states rolling her eyes. I just roll my eyes at this. Thankfully the other initiates were far enough to not hear me earlier. Many would think it would be unfair to be in the transfers, even though I have Dauntless blood. My dad didn't teach me much, only running, self-defense, and without realizing it, how to shoot a gun. In a section of his journal he drew diagrams of the guns Dauntless use. He didn't teach me about the different sections of training, which really would have helped, but I guess he didn't know himself.

"Erudites don't know everything." A voice pipes in. I look up and see a guy with blonde hair, and no piercings. He didn't really exude Dauntless, but from his build, it was obvious he worked on the fence. It's Will, I remember him from the last year, he was originally Erudite but transferred. I was normally allowed up in the higher English classes. We worked on a few projects together.

"Yeah, and you didn't blurt out statistics during our training." A girl with dark brown short hair beside him pipes in. Six tries to hide a smile beside me.

"Yeah, and you don't blurt out the first thing that pops into that beautiful head of yours." Will taps her forehead with his finger. Four lets out a sarcastic snort from the other side of Six.

"Asshole." Is her quick response.

"And I rest my case." Her companion says giving a fake bow. I try to hide my smile but it comes through anyways. "I'm Will." He smiles at us. "This is my girlfriend, Christina."

"Really, Will? I don't want the initiates to know me." She rolls her eyes. Like you weren't an initiate last year. I think as I roll my eyes. I see Will smirk at me. He probably noticed my look.

"You know Mia, you've really learned to control that loud mouth of yours."

"Loud mouth?" I ask, raising a brow. "Last time I checked I barely talked to you." I smirk.

"Just because you don't talk to me, doesn't mean that I didn't hear you telling off that one Candor kid that always annoyed you in English." He smirks.

"He was an asshole, that's different." I say taking a large bite of my hamburger.

"Can't argue there." He shrugs.

"You two were in classes together?" Christina asks. I just nod.

"She had the highest grades in the class even though she rarely spoke. And she was a year younger!"

"What?" I laugh. "Jealous, William?"

"My name is not William." He sighs.

"I know, but I love to piss you off."

"You know, I'm starting to like you, kid." Christina says waving her knife in my direction. I feel Al tense beside me but I just smile at her before grabbing a large piece of chocolate cake. Will and the others return to their conversation from earlier. Something about the factionless getting braver and causing more trouble.

"Like chocolate?" The girl from Amity laughs. I nod a bit.

"And you will once you try this cake." I say pointing to my now smaller piece.

"You've had it before?" She asks. I nod.

"I forgot my lunch on testing day so Marlene gave me her cake." She nods at my response.

"My name is Annie." She smiles at me.

"Mia." I smile back.

"Al!" He calls out and I choke on my cake from my laughter and hit his arm.

"Ow, do you have to hit so hard?" He whines holding onto his arm.

"Oh stop being such a baby." Annie laughs.

"Mia, hit her!" Al whines.

"I do not hit on command, thank you very much. I only hit when you piss me off or make me do something stupid." I reply rolling my eyes.

"Which is almost everyday." Will pops in again.

"You're just asking for a kick in a sensitive spot, Will." I warn him.

"Is that a threat, initiate? You really shouldn't threaten a member." Will threatens but I try to keep back a laugh.

"It's not a threat, it's a promise, and you always know I keep my promises, William." I give a sweet smile as Four snorts.

"Your name is William?"

"No. Ugh Mia I am going to kill you." Will responds quickly. I finish my last bite of cake before smirking at him.

"You really shouldn't threaten initiates, William. It doesn't suit you." At this he kicks my shin roughly and I quickly kick him back.

"Jesus." He mutters his shin under the table. I find myself doing the same thing.

"Why you gotta be so mean, William? Violence isn't the answer." I imitate our old English teacher's terribly snooty accent. He bursts out into laughter.

"Bullshit. You never liked that teacher so don't even try to copy her." I laugh at that.

"She really was a." A heavy hand on my shoulder stops me from finishing my thought. I look up and see Eric. Al and Annie had already made their way towards the opening of the cafeteria.

"Forget your training, initiate?" Eric asks, his grip tightening on my shoulder.

"No, Will here distracted me. Sorry about that." I say as I begin to stand. Eric gives me a warning look before turning towards the door.

"Just don't let it happen again." He calls over his shoulder. I just shake my head and look to Will who has a brow raised in question. I just shrug before jogging to catch up to Eric. I walk at the back of the group, my hand trailing along the rocky walls of the compound, memorizing my way to the training room. We finally make our way to a set of double doors. Once opened, they reveal a huge room. There are targets along some walls, and mats, assumedly for fighting, in different sections of the room. On the far wall a large chalk board has all the initiates names, transfers and Dauntless born separate, obviously. I look back to has made his way over to the board. I start to make my way over, once closer to the board, I see Al and Annie and immediately stand by them. Once all the transfers are by the board, Eric begins to speak.

"This board if your future here at Dauntless." He begins, I swallow hard. We were going to be ranked? "Your ranking will determine your future job. Leadership is at the top, and stopping the factionless from killing each other is at the bottom. Miscellaneous needed positions like tattoos and armory positions are in the middle." He states. I nod a bit to myself. Maybe I could work with computers or weapons. I was already okay with a computer, and weapons shouldn't be too hard to learn.

"Your training will be split up into three parts. The first one is physical, we will push your body to the limit." Four states from behind us. Some initiate jump but I just turn and face him. Al gives me a shocked look but I just shrug it off. "The second and third are mental, during those sections you will be ranked along with the Dauntless-born. They don't know what the last sections are like, just like all of you." Four nods towards a door to the side of the board.

"Up there is the gun range. We will be starting with how to shoot a gun in the morning. Today we just want you to acquaint yourselves to the training room in general. You can spend as much time in here for the day as you would like. I would suggest that you use your free time today to go shopping for more clothes."

"Wouldn't want any of you to hurt yourselves during initiation, now would we?" Eric calls from behind us. I feel a twinge of anger. That cocky son of a.

"Alright, have fun initiates. Don't be late to training in the morning." Four nods to us. I just nod back and look at Al and Annie.

"Want to get tattoos?" I ask them with a smirk.

"Already?" Annie asks.

"Why not?" I reply with a shrug. Annie looks to Al for help, but he just shrugs and I laugh before pulling Annie with me. She just sighs and begins to walk by herself once we get out of the training room. Dauntless was a hell of a lot more interesting than Erudite.


	8. Chapter 7

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Divergent, or its characters.

A/N:

I'm so sorry for the bit of a hiatus! Just started a college class, and I'm gone for about 12 hours a day, but I've finally found writing time! I will (hopefully) be updating more later this week!

Once we made it to the Pit, we had to look for a little while to find the tattoo parlor. Once we made it into the shop, we started looking around at the art on the walls. Annie and Al were at the counter of the quiet, well by Dauntless standards, quiet shop. They were pointing out different designs to each other. I smiled a bit to myself at the two and continued to look at the art on the walls. It was then that I saw a phoenix rising from ashes. I immediately grabbed the design from the wall and took it to the front counter. Al and Annie were still flirting, and the woman at the counter looked bored. I smiled at her and placed the design on the counter.

"I'd like this." She raises her brow as she looks at the design.

"It's a bit ambitious for your first tattoo." She looks back up at me. I shrug.

"It means a lot to me, so I think I can sit through it." She looks at me for a second before reaching her hand over the counter for a handshake.

"My name is Tori."

"Mia." I respond, giving a firm shake. I remember my dad's notes about how the Dauntless like firm handshakes as a way of greeting. It was new, but it felt right.

"Follow me, I'll try to get it finished by dinner." She nods towards a chair. I nod and follow her. "Where do you want it?" She asks over her shoulder. I bite my lip. Didn't think of that.

"I'll get it on my bicep." I decide. She nods as I sit in the chair.

"Which one?" She asks.

"Left." I say, I'm right handed, and trying to punch after a tattoo is a stupid move. She nods again and begins to put the stencil on my arm.

"This placement okay?" Tori asks holding a mirror to show me.

"Perfect." I smile and nod. She smiles back.

"So why the phoenix?" She asks as she turns on the machine.

"A new life." I say. "Corny, I know. But it's not just that I'm Dauntless now." I finish.

"Oh?" She asks. I nod.

"After initiation I'm thinking on getting a Dementor on my other arm."

"A Dementor, that's Harry Potter, right?"

"Yeah. They symbolize depression." I say and the confused look on her face leaves and a look of understanding takes it place.

"So your new life is free from depression." She says. I nod. "A lot of thinking for a couple of tats, but they've got a good meaning behind them. Better than a lot of initiate's first tattoos." She snorts after the last part. I hold back my laugh and just smile.

"Basically, yeah. Plus the only thing I was good at in an Erudite's perspective was English class. Mainly for the fact that I was obsessed with Harry Potter." I shrug as she takes a break from the tattoo. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would...That was until I moved. I winced a bit and went back to my previous position. I see Tori trying to hide a smirk at my wince. I roll my eyes. The next song that begins to play throughout the shop shocks me. Well, it shouldn't really, knowing my dad. I close my eyes to stop the tears. Erudite and Dauntless listen to different music genres, obviously. Due to this, the only Dauntless music I have been exposed to is the songs my dad sang to me before bed, and the few lyrics that made it into his journal. This song was my favorite, Simple Man. Dad wrote that he preferred Shinedown's version more than Skynyrd's. I had no idea which one this was. I clear my throat a bit before looking over at Tori.

"What band is this?" I ask.

"Shinedown." She says raising a brow and lifting from my arm to switch colors. "The original is by," I cut her off.

"Lynyrd Skynyrd." I finish.

"Yeah." She said. "You've got Dauntless blood in you." She smirks at me. I just nod.

"My dad sang this as my lullaby when I was young." I say, cursing in my head when my voice cracks.

"He was a loyal Dauntless then." She says softly. I nod and bite my lip to regain composure.

"You're still getting yours?" I hear Annie say as she walks over. I nod and smile at her.

"It's just really small and barely detailed." I say sarcastically and Annie just rolls her eyes.

"Sure." She says sitting beside me.

"What'd you get?" I ask as Tori begins to wipe down the tattoo with a rag.

"An infinity symbol, it says strength," she gives a smile only an Amity could. A contagious one that I couldn't help but to return.

"It suits you." I say.

"Alright, go check it out." Tori tells me. I walk over to the mirror. The bright reds and dark blacks show a strong phoenix rising from the ashes and I smile even wider. I really am Dauntless now.

"It's amazing, thank you!" I tell Tori as I walk back to her station.

"No problem," she replies nodding towards the counter. "Go ahead over there and pay. When you come back for the Dementor, ask for me." She finishes. I nod and express my thanks again before going to pay. I pay quickly and run up to Al and Annie.

"What'd you get?" I ask Al as we walk towards some of the shops.

"A spider." He responds simply.

"Any reason why?" I ask.

"Just wanted to feel more Dauntless." I roll my eyes at this, but still nod in understanding.


End file.
